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History of Aldernon
The history of Aldernon is divided roughly into four periods; the Age of Darkness, the Age of Neverwas, the Age of Chaos and the Age of Unification __TOC__ Age of Darkness The Age of Darkness refers to the entire period of history before the Age of Neverwas. Due to the machinations of the Nevermore King, almost all knowledge from this period is lost to the winds of time. Many relics and ruins persist from this age and are treasured finds for heroes and adventurers throughout history. Age of Neverwas Spanning the rulership of the Nevermore King and the Repentant Queen, this era is named in like. Initially a period of unification of Aldernon, it soon became a dark age of tyranny and horrific atrocities. Records exist from this time, although most knowledge of the era exists in the form of myth and legend. 0AN - Crowning of the Nevermore King and Repentant Queen 13AN - Repentant Queen forges the Crown of Power 256AN - Repentant Queen implores the Nevermore King to surrender the Crown for the first time 329AN - Repentant Queen implores her King for a second time 427AN - Repentant Queen pleads with her King for the third and final time. Unable to unmake the Crown due to its increased power, she leaves 512AN - Repentant Queen returns to the Castle of Sorrow with her 12 Knights Repentant. The Battle of the Castle of Sorrow lasts 35 days. The Crown is Shattered and the last Knight Repentant emerges with the pieces. Age of Chaos Following the Shattering of the Crown and the banishment of the Nevermore King from his Sundered Throne, Aldernon was thrown into anarchy. During this period the first emergence of crown shards occurred, prompting the formation of feudal clans and tribes across the isle. Following the First Emergence, the power vacuum prompted the Clan Wars, a period of fighting between tribe marshals and clan lords. The Second Emergence occurs near the end of this age. 513AN/0AC - The Last Knight begins spreading the Shards across the land in hopes of hiding them in the hopes they'll never be found. This marks the beginning the Age of Chaos 1AC - Life becomes hard and brutal as evil sweeps the land. Necromancers raise the dead, demons plague towns and villages. 451AC - The First Emergence occurs and the Shards begin making themselves known. This sparks conflict between clans and tribes, starting the Clan Wars 453AC - The First Emergence ends thanks to the intervention of a mysterious group of twelve knights. This causing a power vacuum; the clans have no reason to fight, so begin to merge and battle for power and land. Dragons begin plaguing the land, attacking weakened villages and towns. 936AC - The Second Emergence occurs, prompting the Great Clan War. Three of the largest clans battle for the Shards and the power they'll bring. 937AC - All thirteen pieces are found and almost brought to the reconstituted Castle of Sorrow, before the same band of knights, this time numbering only seven, battled to keep the Nevermore King from returning. This is the first recorded sighting of the figures who would become later known as the Dark Jesters. 989AC - Dragon attacks begin to escalate, making it almost impossible to travel safely between settlements. The conflict between clans begins to wane as the good peoples of Aldernon begin to band together for survival Age of Unification The current age of Aldernon, this era marks a unified, whole Aldernon with a movement away from centralised rulership. The start of this age was marked by the death of the blue dragon Mazarag. Previously the chromatic dragons would prey on the peoples of Aldernon indiscriminately, but a band of heroes travelling with a caravan from what would become Caipiteal to the Trade Lands stood and fought the dragon, slaying the winged beast. This act of defiance prompted others around Aldernon to stand up their draconic oppressors. After almost a hundred years of building resistance, during which time the Third Emergence occurred, the Dracolich Sycothrax sent his lieutenant Grisarix, along with a battalion of hobgoblin warriors, to the central city. Expecting the citizens to cower and give up half of all their possessions, the green dragon met a staunch defence. The dragon was felled and the battalion routed, sparking the Draconis Wars. Following the victory, there has been over 150 years of relative peace, although Aldernon is still a dangerous place away from the lights of civilisation, bringing us to the present day and Fourth Emergence. 1352AC/0AU - A band of heroes protecting a trade caravan travelling from Centertown (what would later become Caipiteal) to the Trade Lands slays the blue dragon Mazarag in defence of the caravan. Due to the long reaching effects of this decision, the band rather unfairly earns the legendary name 'The War Bringers' 36AU - Amidst rising resistance against the oppression of dragons, the Third Emergence occurs. Distracted by the threat of winged death, Aldernon as a whole tries to ignore the reappearance of the Shards. The Dark Jesters, almost completely unopposed, manage to gather nine of the thirteen shards. They are defeated by The War Bringers, aided by four Knights Repentant. 154AU, hAione trí Márta - The Dracolich Sycothrax sends his lieutenant Grisarix, accompanied by a battalion of six hundred and sixty six hobgolbins, to the newly formed city of Caipiteal. The battalions warleader approaches the city walls and demands on behalf of his green dragon master that the city surrenders half of all its food and wealth and one in every ten citizens as an offering to Sycothrax. Instead, the warleader is struck down by an arrow loosed by the descendant of one of The War Bringers. The battalion of hobgoblins attempt to besiege the city, but are repelled by the well armed and trained defenders. Grisarix is slain by the might of the war mages of the arcana academy. This marks the official start of the Draconis Wars. 163AU - Emissaries are sent across the seas to find allies in the war effort. A force of metallic dragons answer the call, joining the fight against the evil chromatic dragons. 175AU - The Sorrow of Dum'Kazzarad; the fall of the greatest dwarven fortress. Suspected to be the product of draconic subterfuge, the dwarf lords only revealed that it was caused by something outside the war. 177AU - The Last Stand of the Scale Lords; a legion of dragonborn led by the ancient bronze dragon Elidyr, mount a defence of the Neck of Ish Sah, the valley pass through the Spine of Ish Sah mountains. Standing against the impetuous young red dragon Ferovax and his kobald hoards numbering in the thousands, the legion and their dragon leader are wiped out to a man, but managed to hold on long enough for dwarven reinforcements in the form of the Seventy-fifth Hammerfists to arrive and repel the weakened kobold forces. In honour of their Dragonborn allies, the Hammerfists take on the new name of the Scale Smiths. Ferovax flees in cowardly fear towards the Burning Mountains, taking with him the remainder of his kobold worshippers. 189AU, Luain amháin Iúil - A massive force of orcs, goblins and trolls, the likes of which begins to move across Aldernon, lead by hobgoblin warleader Zeltrad. Fearing that this was Sycothrax's main offensive, and knowing the vulnerability of ground units to air attacks with no attack defence in sight, the majority of the metallic dragon forces, supported by wings of griffons and pegasi warriors, counter attacked. But the attack was a trap; in the middle of the goblinoid force was an arcane weapon constructed by Sycothrax; the necrobomb. Enchanted with dark, life draining magic, the weapon was hidden from both Sycothrax's enemies and her own troops, and was detonated remotely. The explosion of necrotic energy decimated the evil army, but also killed every metallic dragon sent to repel the attack. With no air support, the forces of good were rendered vulnerable to Sycothrax's true attack. 191AU - With their air support all but destroyed, with only two metallic dragon allies still alive, construction begins of the Skyship Weatherlight. The first in a planned fleet of flying warships equipped with a prototype interplannar drive to enable short hops through the Astral Sea to allow rapid redeployment. 199AU, Máirt amháin Samhain - The Siege of Caipiteal, otherwise known as the Siege of Samhain, begins with the chromatic air forces wiping out almost all ground resistance, the large remaining goblinoid forces sweeping into the southern half of the city. The cities defenders mount a staunch defence the northern half of the city, repelling both invasion from the ground across the water and beyond the walls, and from the air with the help of the cities war mage division. Brutal street fighting in the southern half goes on for weeks 199AU, Luain ceithre Samhain - A magical defence system constructed in secret is brought online by a band of mercenaries. The defence system helps the citizens repel the invaders, break the siege and opens a window for the first the mission of the newly finished Weatherlight. The city is reclaimed, marking a turning point in the war in favour of the forces of good. 199AU, Domhnaigh ceithre Samhain - Desperate and enraged by her defeat in the Siege of Caipiteal only, Sycothrax mounts her final offensive on the day that marks beginning of Wintereenmas. Her timing is not by accident, for come nightfall not only will the barriers between the land of the living and the afterlife be weakened, but also the barrier between the Material Plane and The Shadowfell. Sycothrax intends to bring forth a dread army of ghost and spectres for one night, to tip the war in her favour. Rallying the entirety of the forces of good, Gerrard Capashan, Captain of the Weatherlight, leads the charge into battle. On the ground elven archers clash with goblin skirmishers. Goliath warriors and hobgoblin ronin cross swords. War mages bring down fiery death on legions of undead raised by Sycothrax's necromancer priestesses. In the sky, gryphons and eagles lock talons with wyrms and drakes while the Weatherlight looses blast after blast from her banks of manacannons, dodging the necrotic breath of Sycothrax herself. In a daring and dangerous manoeuvre that soldiers told tales of for decades to come, Gerrard activates the Weatherlights interplanar drive, not to jump through space, but time, creating a temporal duplicate of the ship itself. Fighting side by side, the twin ships bring down Sycothrax with a broadside of manacannon blasts. The dracolich explodes in a sphere of unleashed death energy, knocking both Weatherlights from the sky. Their leader defeated and their forces outnumbered and outgunned, the armies of Sycothrax begin to retreat back towards the Spine of Ish Sah mountains to the Golden Coast beyond. The forces of good do not pursue for fearing off pushing their fortune. Search parties are sent out to find either of the Weatherlights. This marks the end of the Draconis War. 199AU, Máirt amháin Meitheamh - After two days of searching Gerrard and the Weatherlight are found. He claims that the blast of necrotic energy from the dying dracolich sent his Weatherlight spiralling out of control and the temporal duplicate back to its own time. He ordered his crew to abandon ship using the emergency scrolls of feather fall, while he remained on board to bring the ship down safely. The crash knocked him unconcious and when he came to, the rescue party was arriving. He also reveals that the temporal manoeuvre he performed caused the interplanar drive to become displaced in time and space, lost forever. Although his actions resulted in defeat of Sycothrax and ultimately victory, the interplanar drive represented a massive investment by the peoples of Aldernon, and its loss was a serious one. 201AU - Gerrard Capashen is debriefed on his actions resulting in the loss of the interplanar drive. His actions are deemed reckless and against orders, and he is stripped of his military rank and given a dishonourable discharge. The Weatherlight program, now without a prototype interplanar drive from which more could be developed, is discontinued. The Weatherlight is sent to be scrapped for parts, but Gerrard uses the vast majority of his remaining wealth to purchase the ship, to which he has become attached. 222AU - A former war mage sent to catalogue the assets of Sycothrax's lair fails to report in. Several months later, intel from the Golden Coast start to come in reporting spates of undead attacks along the Spine of Ish Sah mountains and amongst the nomadic tribes. A massive floating island pulled by the dead is mentioned, but written off as nonsense. 232AU, hAoine dhá Iúil - The elven city of Cathair Na Glóire is destroyed in a massive magical explosion, the likes of which hasn't been seen since the detonation of the necrobomb. It's believed the elven mages were attempting to build a second interplanar drive. 246AU Luain dhá Lúnasa - Gerrard Capashen passes away in his sleep at age 77, surrounded by his family. Having spent his post-military life living by humble standards, he is survived by his wife, three children and six grandchildren. His wife passes away three weeks later. 298AU hAoine dhá Márta - The massacre of the Ish Sah pass occurs. The exact details are not known to many outside of the Concordance Hierarchy, but it is know that many Dragonborn died and S.W.O.R.D was somehow involved. 301AU - The Fourth Emergence begins as Shards begin revealing their presence once again. This is the shortest time between emergences, less than 300 years. Amidst this, attacks by figures resembling the description of Dark Jesters are reported in shockingly high numbers. 301AU, Déardaoin trí Nollaig - A tavern called the crossroads inn is burned to the ground, with rumours of a fight between Dark Jesters and a trio of adventures... Category:History of Aldernon